Although native to South East Asia, they have become established in Florida's Everglades National Park - where they have been blamed for a staggering decline of mammals.

To study how these invasive predators migrate and spread, researchers captured 12 snakes and fitted them with GPS radiotransmitters.

Half were released where they were captured, but the other six were transported to other suitable habitats in the Everglades 13-23 miles (21-36 km) away.

Using aircraft to track their movements, the researchers were stunned by how quickly the snakes travelled homeward.

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The pythons could navigate by the Sun, the stars, or by a magnetic compass

Five of the six returned within 5km of their original capture location - and their movement was faster than the control snakes.

"We were very surprised," said lead author Shannon Pittman, of Davidson College, North Carolina.

"We anticipated the pythons would develop new home ranges where they were released. We didn't expect them to orient back to their capture locations.

"This is evidence that Burmese pythons are capable of homing on a scale previously undocumented in any snake species."

The experiment suggests the snakes have both a map sense (to determine their position in relation to home) and a compass sense (to guide their movement home).

Researchers say the map could be magnetic, like sea turtles, while the compass could be guided by the stars, olfactory (smell) cues, or by polarised sunlight - all of which have been shown to be used by reptiles.

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Media captionThis Burmese python was found in a Florida shed

"Other snakes likely do share this ability with pythons. But our understanding is limited by a dearth of research on the subject," Ms Pittman told BBC News.

Some previous studies found that smaller snakes - sea kraits and garter snakes - can home over short distances, but not large constrictors.

"I'm impressed, but I'm not surprised - this verifies what many of us in the field have been seeing for years," said Dr Stephen Secor of the University of Alabama, who researches Burmese python physiology.

"Reptiles know where they're going - it's not just random. They're familiar with their home range.

"And I suspect that, if pythons can do this, all snakes can do it - rattlesnakes, vipers, the lot."